Thanks folks, that's given me some food for thought.
I’ve been told by more than one person that the going rate for labor on a basic install ( light and sound ) by someone who knows how is between $230 - $250 range. That’s not including parts just labor. I’ll probably get smacked for saying that. I’ve only done small amounts of work for others, but from asking around and my experience that’s the going rate. Of coarse chambers, blinkies etc. would be more and probably varies.
Okay, converted into pounds sterling, that's a range of £165-180. Just so we're on the same page, by "basic install", you mean something like LEDs (with or without FoC), sound, 18650, NB, with a laser cut chassis, or something more complex? Because I was thinking of charging a bit more than that (£200-240, so $280-320 or so) much for a whole custom build, parts and labour and all. might have to set my fee a little higher if that's the going rate for an install:undecided:
I'll chime in here as I think I'm in the same boat of a very occasionally building sabers for others and not a pro installer. If building for a friend, I don't usually charge as much as I would for somebody I don't know, but it's all based on complexity. If I can do it in a few hours, I charge them maybe cost of parts plus 15-20%. If it's involved and will take days, I start to charge by the hour. If it is very difficult and I don't really want to do it, I charge a PITA tax on top of that.
I think that I'm probably going to aim for something along those lines. that said, if I know the guy, I'm not expecting that much of a PiTA tax, though.
I've done work at cost before when someone really couldn't afford it, the job was low key, and it allowed me an excuse to experiment. Extra design points cost extra money, don't let design creep take over your life. It's going to take longer than you think it will, don't promise a tight deadline especially if you are doing the work for a token fee.
Make sure you set appropriate expectations. If there is something you can't do or aren't quite sure of let your friend know. If they want you to try anyway then it should not be at your expense when you have to try something else.
Well, I'm not sure yet what he wants in terms of hilt design, but he did mention an interest in Count Dooku's saber. And I've fancied playing around with a curved hilt design for a few months now, so it would be the perfect chance to experiment a little with that. But aside from that, re: setting expectations, I'm going to have to do a lot of that, if only because I'm pretty sure my friend wouldn't recognise a Nano Biscotte from an actual slice of buttered toast. I'm going to have to do a lot of explaining as to how these things work and what to expect from the various boards, features, etc.